


The Sixth Star

by SneakyBunyip



Category: Death Stranding (Video Games)
Genre: Agoraphobia, But if you've played Chapter 1 you're good, But its a need for companionship, Chapter 1 Spoilers, Gen, Haphephobia, I called him Lu, It doesnt get shippy, Loneliness, Sam Expresses Feels Through Gifts, Sam brings Ludens to Ludens Fan because Ludens Fans a Fan of Ludens and Sams a Fan of Ludens Fam, Sort of but not really spoilers though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21607576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SneakyBunyip/pseuds/SneakyBunyip
Summary: Ludens Fan already gave Sam his Fifth Star Stamp. So why does Sam keep coming back?
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	The Sixth Star

He almost didn’t want to give Sam that fifth star. 

He needed to though, Sam deserved it more than most. 

With each new delivery, Luden toys, Luden coffee mugs, Luden comic books, even a Life Size Model of a Luden, Lu had more merchandise than he could have ever hoped. 

All because of Sam.

Still...that fifth star meant the end.

Couriers, even the friendly ones, typically didn’t come around after they put that Star Stamp on their uniform. They were playing a game of their own, really: Collecting stars, showing them off to other couriers, “leveling up” so to speak. 

Lu never minded. It was as if he was an NPC helping these couriers on their journey! He was part of the game!

Still...he was going to miss Sam.

“Shame we only ever seem to meet when you’re hauling something across the country for me!” He said, holding the Star Stamp in his hand. He smiled at the holo of Sam Porter Bridges who looked at him behind golden Ludens Mask sunglasses.

Sam grunted.

But he always did that.

There was a bit of sunburn on Sam’s cheeks. His scraggly facial hair looked bleached from the sun. There was tar on his cargo suit.

Lu almost invited him inside.

But that would mean opening the hatch. He had never done that before...not in a long time anyway.

The star was better...

“If you have room, I have something for you...” He quickly shoved the Star Stamp into the delivery drop mechanism and punched the button. A loud buzz echoed through the tunnels leading out of his bunker and up to the surface.

Sometimes when Sam’s deliveries came back to him, he could almost smell fresh air, clean soil, and he wondered if he smelled Sam too.

It’s been so long since he’s even stood next to anyone...

As always, he looked up at the dark ceiling, slapped together with metal and resin and tar, taking comfort that a hundred-and-twenty-one feet above him Sam was standing there. 

There was a distant buzz as Sam received his Fifth Star.

“Be careful out there!” Ludens Fan said, cheerfully. 

Sam grunted.

But he always did that.

*****

Lu didn’t expect another delivery so soon. 

In fact, he had never received a delivery two days in a row before. 

By the time he approached his terminal, pulling his favorite turtleneck sweater over his head and taming his salt and pepper hair, the courier was gone.

The delivery was a single Ludens figure. 

He hadn’t sent a request for one and the figure was too common to be requested, he had a dozen already! That was alright. He never turned away a Ludens toy!

He punched out a few Likes and went about his day.

“The Day” consisted of reading Ludens comics, writing Ludens fan fiction, composing Ludens theories and polishing up old ones, and his favorite: rearranging his figurines.

It was a very busy day!

The next delivery came a few hours later.

“Hi friend!” He tried to greet the new courier...but they were already walking out.

He glimpsed a chiral gold hat and a Bridges backpack.

“Sam?!” He called.

The projection cut out.

That was Sam, wasn’t it? Who else wore that ridiculous hat, ridiculous Ludens Mask sunglasses and still managed to wear the most serious-not-ridiculous-expression Lu ever seen on a person. 

Heart in his throat, he opened the new package...

...and frowned.

This was a repeat delivery, too. A few comics, very common, and they half-disintegrated from Timefall. Sam always provided pristine deliveries unless he found someone else’s discarded packages. 

_But, why bother? He’s already had his stars..._

Confused, Lu punched out a few more Likes, but he was sure the Courier wouldn’t see them.

Lu went about the rest of his day, cozy in his bunker, on an aged couch, reading ancient comic books, and looking down the dark corridor towards the delivery terminal.

Three hours later...another buzz.

Ludens Fan never ran. In a one-bedroom, one-bath, extremely cozy bunker, there was nowhere to truly run to. 

But darned if he “zipped”. It was the quickest he had ever zipped in his entire life. If he had been in a comic book, a “Nyoom” would have appeared over his head.

He punched the holo and shouted blindly “Sam!”

The courier jumped back. 

“What?” Sam grunted.

Ludens Fan laughed...a little too wildly, a little too loudly...then smothered the sound with a clearing of his throat. 

“Th-thank you for your delivery,” he said, lamely.

“Haven’t given it to you, yet,” Sam mumbled, looking down at the Timefall-rusted box.

“Oh...right. Uh...what is it?”

Sam didn’t look up from the box. He shrugged his shoulders, heavy with equipment, other deliveries, the BB unit doing a small flip against his chest.

“Just somethin’ I found on the ground. It’s Ludens stuff so...figured you’d want it.”

Lu didn’t know what to say. 

Apparently neither did Sam.

There was more tar on Sam’s suit than there had been previously. And there was a bruise on his cheek. Water dripped off his cap and the box trembled in his hand. He looked ready to drop.

“I don’t have a Private Room,” Lu said. “But you’re welcome to sit in the entrance way until the Timefall stops.

Sam grunted.

But he always did that.

The holo cut out just as Sam hunched down, unhooking his pack. 

Lu looked upwards. A hundred-and-twenty-one feet above him, Sam Porter Bridges was sitting in his shelter entrance holding some “Ludens stuff” for Lu. 

Ludens Fan took a deep breath. He straightened out his turtleneck. He patted his hair. He clenched his fists, then unclenched his fists, then clenched his fists around the first ladder rungs.

For the first time since long before he had gray in his hair, Ludens Fan emerged from his bunker...

*****

The world was too much. Much too much. 

_Maybe this was a mistake._

Beyond the bunker entrance, the natural light, even overcast by the Chiral Clouds, was blinding, and Ludens Fan almost hissed like a cartoonish vampire at it.

“Shhhhit,” he managed to hiss in a less villainous way.

Sam turned his head as much as his half-unbuckled pack would let him. “You okay?” he asked.

“Well, I haven’t burst into flames or disintegrated so...I guess so.” 

Lu blinked and blinked and blinked, but a barrier of throbbing pain and white light kept him from seeing Sam face-to-face. 

“Sorry, I can’t...I don’t see...”

A pair of gold-rimmed sunglasses came into his vision.

“Here,” Sam murmured. “Put these on.”

“Thank you.” Lu slipped on the glasses and the world came back in an easier-to-digest version of itself. Slightly tinted, slightly polarized, and...quite beautiful.

The pain lifting Lu took in a much needed breath. Soil, air, sweat, leather, plastic, tar. Rich and crisp and fleeting and spiced. 

“It smells wonderful up here.” 

Sam grunted.

Although he always did that, it sounded beautiful in-person.

Shaking from the exhilaration of it all, Lu took a seat on the cold, hard surface of his own bunker. 

“It’s been so long. Everything feels so...large.” He looked over at Sam and...was surprised to see he sat a little taller than the Legend, himself. But then, he was sitting stiffly and Sam was hunched, melted into his pack. 

“I’d offer my hand to you as a friendly greeting, but I don’t think I’m ready for human contact just yet,” Lu said, with a nervous laugh. “You're the first person I’ve sat beside in a long time.”

“No problem. I’m not one for touching people. I got this...thing.” Sam waved vaguely at himself.

Ludens Fan wondered if it was haphephobia or something else. And then he wondered if he himself had haphephobia. It had been so long since he experienced any sort of contact, and yet he didn’t miss it. In fact, panic prickled his skin at the very thought of skin-on-skin contact. And a hug? No...no, thank you. 

“Thank you for your delivery,” Lu said, returning to his NPC-like formality.

Sam handed it over to him. “It says Luden so...”

“You know I have maxed out my stars for you,” Lu said, as gently as he could in case Sam forgot. Surely he delivered to dozens and dozens of Preppers since joining Bridges.

“Don’t need ‘em,” Sam shrugged. 

“Then, why are you bringing me...” Lu opened the package and it was two more common Luden figurines. “...more deliveries?”

Sam didn’t respond.

And he might have grunted, but it was interrupted by his BB-unit surfacing. With a cheerful giggle, the BB turned around in the tank, wiggling his bum at Ludens Fan, then vanishing under the black shield.

“BB...” Sam admonished, but there was a hint of a smile on his face.

Sam...was smiling. Ludens Fan stared openly at that smile. 

All couriers smiled, especially the ones that wanted more Likes, more stars, that coveted Star Stamp.

But Sam...

Sam smiled at his BB-unit. And when he looked up, the smile still lingered. He didn’t show teeth, his lips barely curving upward, but it was a real emotion. 

So very real. 

Lu felt tears well in his eyes behind the sunglasses. 

Sam glanced over at Lu, then did a double-take. 

“You okay?” Sam asked for the second time since Ludens Fan emerged.

“Yeah! Yeah...it’s all just...overwhelming. But a good overwhelming. I’m very good and everything is very good.” He realized he was clutching the two Ludens figures in his hands and it was only then he realized they were squishy.

“Oh! Stress dolls! I actually don’t have these!”

“Yeah?” Sam asked, sitting a little straighter. 

“Here. You take one. Your job is far more stressful than mine.” Lu set one of the stress dolls on the ground for Sam to pick up. 

“I can bring you more,” Sam offered, plucking it off the ground. 

“You want to be the first to get that Sixth Star then huh?” Lu joked.

“Nah,” Sam shook his head. “Don’t worry about the likes. I like coming here.”

“May...may I ask why?” Lu asked, pretending like his tears were not falling out the sides of his glasses in endless streams.

Sam mumbled something. It may have been “good people” or “good feels” or “food bee pole”...Lu really hoped it was one of the first two, but he didn’t question it.

“May I come up here again and rest with you?” Ludens Fan asked, feeling a little ridiculous even as he said it. He rested all the time! But...he didn’t want to rest up here without Sam.

“Yeah,” Sam said, and his faint smile grew a little richer. “I’d like that.”

Sam gave a little squeeze of the stress doll.

It squeaked. 

BB gave it 5 Likes.

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also on Tumblr! [SneakyBunyip](http://sneakybunyip.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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